Fast Life

Well first off, William Haines was NOT "given the shove" by MGM as noted in another comment here. Haines quit MGM rather than submit to the maniacal hypocrite, L.B. Mayer. Haines had been among MGM's top stars from 1926 til he quit in 1932.

All of Haines' talkies for MGM have that cheap, second-feature look, partly because of Mayer's dislike for the openly gay Haines. But most of his film were hits anyway.

Here Haines plays his usual brassy, smart-ass self as an ex-navy man who has invented a swell motor. After being scuttled by a yacht, Haines and sidekick (the always funny Cliff Edwards) get taken to Catalina where they wheedle their way into the girl's father's boat business. Haines is also sweet on the girl--Madge Evans--but her sour boyfriend--Conrad Nagel--has other plans.

Lots of snappy lines here and an exciting boat-race finish make Haines' last MGM film a bittersweet event. He could have had another decade of film stardom. The chemistry between Haines and Evans is a joy.

As noted elsewhere Karl Dane and Pete Smith make appearances but it's Arthur Byron who plays the father, not Kenneth Thomson.

Navy buddies, Sanderson 'Sandy' Burton (William Haines) and Franz 'Bumpy' Jurgens, leave the service after blowing up a boat. Sandy had invented a revolutionary carburetor and befriends boat builder John D. Jameson who is eager to race the fastest boat. The daughter Shirley Jameson (Madge Evans) is weary of her father racing, but falls for the rogue inventor.

This is a bit of dumb fun. It is maybe too dumb for some people. I would like it to get even dumber and do it more often. They set up some gags. They just need to push them over the top and I would get rid of the gunplay. This is sometimes fun.

It seems from some of the other reviews that some people just don't like William Haines or his movies. However, if you do like his films this is one of his best sound comedies, and his last for MGM. However he wasn't alone as Conrad Nagel and Cliff Edwards are also making their last contract appearances for MGM as that studio did some housecleaning of their early sound stars to make room for the new faces coming on board. Haines was alone in the sense that he chose to leave rather than submit to a fake "lavender marriage" to provide cover for his gay lifestyle as ordered by studio head Louis B. Mayer.

The film is quite amusing and fast-paced. It has the elements you normally find in a Haines comedy as far as his character's brashness outpacing his brains somewhat. Here Haines' character Sandy has an idea for a maritime engine that has the possibility of greatly increasing the speed of a boat. He's been getting no takers until the boat he's in is accidentally hit by the yacht of Shirley, the beautiful daughter (Madge Evans) of the owner of a boat building business. The girl's father, Mr. Jamison, takes a shine to Sandy from the start and agrees to build the boat partially as a business proposition but mainly because he wants to enter it into an international speedboat race and win the trophy for the U.S. out of patriotic pride. The initial prototype burns up on trial, bankrupts Jamison - who does not hold a grudge, and ruins his budding romance with Jamison's daughter - who does hold a grudge. Sandy knows how to fix the design, but everyone involved is broke with the exception of Sandy's competitor for Shirley's affections, banker Burton (Conrad Nagel). How can Sandy redeem himself with thousands of dollars for needed repairs that he doesn't have standing in the way? I'll let you watch and find out.

It was interesting to see Conrad Nagel play a bad guy for a change when his pleasant voice and appearance normally had him playing the hero. This is also a departure from Haines' normal part. Usually he starts out as a proud guy with the world at his feet when some fall from grace teaches him a lesson in teamwork, humility, or the value of hard work. Here, Haines' character starts out penniless and industrious, he's just looking for a break. It's an unusual and somewhat subtle endeavor for MGM into the championing of the working class over the banking class - Nagel plays a banker - that was probably popular with Depression audiences in 1932.

Also note Pete Smith, who made many shorts for MGM, as an announcer in the final scene of the film. Here you get to see Pete rather than just hear him as was the case in his many amusing short films of the era.

I'd recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the early talkies and enjoys the silly brash style of William Haines.

William Haines is a fast-talking ex-sailor with big ideas for building the world's fastest speed boat, winning the love of a rich man's daughter and foiling the plots of a crooked young banker. Maybe some of his dreams will come true, if he can only slow down his hectic FAST LIFE.

The story is silly, as were most of Haines' pictures, but he's always enjoyable to watch. Extensive location shooting around the Catalina Island waterfront gives the film a boost.

Haines is his normal antic, brash self, doing all he can to annoy Madge Evans, as the love interest. Conrad Nagel is the banker, in a pleasant departure from his usual good guy roles. Little Cliff Edwards is funny as Haines' buddy. Karl Dane appears uncredited in a bit part as a wharf watchman. Only a few years before he'd been one of MGM's silent stars, but his thick Danish accent didn't pass the grade in the new world of talking pictures and he quickly faded. He would die a suicide two years after FAST LIFE was released.

This was also to be William Haines' last MGM film. He & Louis B. Mayer had loathed each other for years and Haines was finally given the shove. After a couple of films at a minor studio, he would become a very successful interior decorator.

This is a so-so story, with the typical formula of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again, in combination with a story about speedboat design and racing. There isn't much here to interest today's movie viewer. While there are some movies of the early 1930s which continue to delight us (e.g. Dinner At Eight), this movie isn't one of them.

Lead star William Haines was at the end of his film career. In his biography of Haines, "Wisecracker", author William J. Mann alleges that Haines's career was on the decline partly due to his aging out of the roles he had become typecast in, and also to becoming pudgy. Yet, Haines appears in a swimsuit in this film, looking fit and trim.

The Great Depression made film studios reluctant to make long-term contracts with actors, and when they did, they substantially reduced the salaries paid. Stories of Haines's enmity with MGM brass, and the effects of his personal life, may be apocryphal. The net net is that Haines wasn't making money for MGM any longer, and so he was out.

I wouldn't recommend this film unless you are a real die-hard Haines fan.